Deleting Mirrored Backups using xp_slsSmartCleanup (4270339)

Can you delete mirrored backup files using xp_slsSmartCleanup extended stored procedure?

It is not possible to delete mirrored backups using the xp_slsSmartCleanup extended stored procedure because mirrored backups are essentially copies of the original backup files made at the level of the operating system. Therefore, they have no entries in the MSDB database. xp_slsSmartCleanup will not remove them.
 

Fast Compression leverages our SmartCleanup technology and is the recommended method to delete old backup files when using Fast Compression. SmartCleanup is backup set aware and knows when it's ok to delete a full backup when there are differentials that have not been deleted and rely on the full in question. It also logs these deletions in the LiteSpeed repository. That way, the next time Fast Compression runs, it can distinguish a missing backup file that may have been accidentally deleted from one which was removed on purpose via SmartCleanup - this prevents backup escalation from kicking in. As it relates to mirrored backups, we do not delete mirrors since they are generally managed separately for DR or other purposes.

We only delete the primary backup files through SmartCleanup. The more general Clean Up maintenance plan task, however, can be used to delete mirrored backups, but is not backup set aware like SmartCleanup is.